K & P

Warped justice: Mother sexually abused as punishment for son

Woman paraded naked in the streets of a village on the instigation of a jirga that found her son guilty of rape.

June 14, 2011

HARIPUR:

A woman was allegedly paraded naked in the streets of Neelor Bala village on the instigation of a jirga that found her son guilty of rape.

Four armed men, who belonged to the same village as that of the ‘raped’ woman, allegedly disrobed the middle-aged woman before making her parade naked.

Police has confirmed the report and arrested three members of the jirga.

“Sadia* had become pregnant while her husband Shabbir* was away in Lahore. Upon returning, he enquired from her about the pregnancy and she accused Karim*, son of Shaheen*, and his friend Arshad* of having raped her,” Shaheen’s younger brother Muhammad Asif* told The Express Tribune.

On June 8, Shabbir took the matter to the village jirga, headed by Basheer Abbasi and Raqeeb. The jirga decided that Sadia be immediately divorced, and Karim and Arshad be punished for their crime.

Shabbir then took his wife to Haripur district court and forced her to file for divorce. When Shabbir returned home, he along with his three brothers Arsalan, Imran and Manzoor, reached Karim’s house and dragged his mother Shaheen on to the streets. They also beat the woman with rifle butts and then went to Arshad’s house and torched it.

Shaheen has left for Lahore, where her husband serves in a Pakistan Army unit.

Police sources said the matter was later brought to the notice of local police by some rights activists and they had registered a case against jirga members on a complaint by Shaheen’s father-in-law Khan*.

Meanwhile, local civil society organisations condemned the incident and offered the victims legal and moral support.

This is not an isolated incident. In January 2011, another woman, a resident of Basti Wah Deen village in Vehari, was gang-raped and stripped naked by landlords for refusing a marriage proposal.

*All names have been changed to protect identities

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (27)

bio | 12 years ago | Reply bad

Hopeless | 12 years ago | Reply If religious parties can justify terrorism in the name of drone attacks this kind of incidents can be justified also

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RizwanTKhan | 12 years ago | Reply This is the justice of jirga? All jigra men should be whipped 100 times for making such a barbaric decision. These old freaks (who are so old that they lose count of their own children) wasted their lives if this is how they have to make a decision. And ET should refrain from pin pointing the village as then the victims are very obvious. Lets all adhere to our social/moral/religious responsibilities.

Salman Arshad | 12 years ago | Reply The reason for such a punishment is deterrence. Men will think twice before raping a woman. Oh well.

Cautious | 12 years ago | Reply Only in Pakistan! Every time I think you have hit a new low you surprise me and come up with something new.

Hassan | 12 years ago | Reply Floods, Earthquakes, All are signs of Gods displeasure at the barbaric acts of communitys. Much more to come unless the people of this country change there ways. NOTE the last paragraph of this story a woman was raped and paraded naked because she refused a wedding proposal ! incredulious..... Now tell me if this was a fitting punishment for the so called crime of refusal. Shame on us.

Javed | 12 years ago | Reply @Gul khan: Don't believe this. Its a RAW/CIA/MOSSAD?MI5&6 conspiracy but I am sure you will blindly believe the Jirga & Taliban.

Leila Rage | 12 years ago | Reply How sick. I'm disgusted by the lovely chief justice and the courts of Pakistan that still havent bothered to ban these jirgas. The jirgas are made up of sadistic perverts with no knowledge of Islam and justice, so why are they allowed to existed. The men who acted on the orders o f the jirga and the jirga should all be arrested, tortured in prison and then hanged in public. How is punishing the alleged rapist's mother justice? She did not commit the crime. The charge is against her son. Why didnt the jirga punish him? How typical. The pigs just use women as scapegoats for everything. May God one day make them suffer like these abused women, and may they be tormented with the punishment of their sins forever.

Javed | 12 years ago | Reply This is a norm in our rural society. Sometimes when its in the news and we all profess shock. The reality is that nothing is going to change so lets blame someone else and move on.

Gul khan | 12 years ago | Reply I am wondering i do not see this kind of NEWS anywhere else...I went through all newspapers and news channels and couldn't find this news...Why all of you believe Express Tribune blindly???

Moderate | 12 years ago | Reply :(

Emperor | 12 years ago | Reply heck! what kind of justice is this?

Zain | 12 years ago | Reply It is indeed very disturbing and tragic to come across such news every time it surfaces but what is even worst is incidents like these continue to happen and the perpetrators have not been heard of being handed exemplary punishments. This incident and the like are shameful and disgusting to say the least as well as contrary to any moral or religious value. Such barbarianism should not only be condemned but also curbed at all costs.

Furqan | 12 years ago | Reply @Chacha: Y don't you start coming out to the streets then?? it's no point just talking here.

HuMaYuN | 12 years ago | Reply Another Shame Full Act happened In Pakistan, And For Sure Nothing is going happen, No Justice ,law N Order In Pakistan

Akthar | 12 years ago | Reply Is it Ghairat to disrobe a women for no fault of her? Its really disgusting! :(. A very shameful act, what were the rest of the shameless villagers doing?

RealityCheck | 12 years ago | Reply This is what happens -When the value system of a society collapses, -When people know that the justice doesnot prevail and law enforcement agencies actually are ineffective.

Chacha | 12 years ago | Reply @Jameel ur Rasheed: Just as you said anyone opposing is anti-muslim. This is what is known as "popular islam".

Chacha | 12 years ago | Reply Very manly people ! A woman is violated and so they dispense justice by violating another woman ! And these are the people whose bravery and honour people talk about when they defend the Taliban. Is this islam. if not, why are not the people out in the streets ?

IL | 12 years ago | Reply Forcing burqa on women, and humiliating them by forcing them to walk naked in fornt of villages - it is abhorrent to see that both these things happen in the same country. Both are extremes and those who force them should be punished,

John Bosco | 12 years ago | Reply Don't we think that Chief Justice will take immediate actions against the culprit who insulted the old woman (mother) who has no fault but naked in front of whole village? I believe this is the problem in our society where parallel courts are working? Jirga system should not have any power in today's world. Are we still in 1st century? This should be abolished across the country and in most of the cases Women do not get justice.

adnan bawany | 12 years ago | Reply why did the jirga decide that the raped woman be immediately divorced?? what is wrong with our people? why do we value a woman only for her virginity status? The raped woman is not the one who is dishonoured,it's the misogynistic male barbarians who are dishonoured by their medieval mentality. the non-muslim west that we love to condemn all the time is a million times better than us as they have not tied a woman's respect or honour or her status in society with her virginity status while we muslims shamefully still cling onto our animalistic mindset.

Wollstonecraft | 12 years ago | Reply Is this justice in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan? I wonder why you condemn the scantily clad women of the West? The shameful Muslims have no respect for their own kind let alone having respect for anyone who eats pork and drinks wine.

Jameel ur Rasheed | 12 years ago | Reply Nothing can be done for such incidents. Any one who challenges the credibility of the so called jirga would be an anti-Muslim. People and the communities like these don't really deserve a change so they should better become use to with living such lives! Pathetic!

Unknown | 12 years ago | Reply Was there no one in the village to raise voice for this injustice. How long we will punish others for others' crimes. When will we realise the status of women and when will we give females their status as described in Quran. The responsibility also lies on parents to keep check on their children and prevent them from indulging into bad company. If not, our society which morale is already down will perish soon.

Asghar Malik | 12 years ago | Reply After happening of these kind of events Why do we complain to Allah for our miserable conditions in Pakistan. Shameful act !!!!

Billoo Bhaya | 12 years ago | Reply Protect identities by changing names??? People living away from the place of incident, as I don't care what names are used. But in the place where the incident occurred everyone knows and those directly involved, especially the women, are the ones whose lives have been devastated and changed for ever.

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